Since the medical arts first began injecting fluids in the veins of patients, there has been a problem of maintaining the intravenous needle and its related tubing in proper position relative to the point at which such needle penetrates the skin of the patient. If not adequately secured, the IV can with little effort be pulled out, or even worse, can be unintentionally ripped from the skin causing excessive hemorrhaging and other undesirable results.
The above is particularly true when a patient is sleeping or is in a semi-conscious condition where movement, although unintentional or involuntary, can cause the IV to become dislocated or completely removed from the patient. This situation is undesirable at best and can in the worst situations be extremely injurious or even fatal.
Although various means for securing venous and arterial catheters, intravenous feeding and drug administering means, and the like have been developed, these have in most instances been limited to leg and arm appendages but have not related to IVs inserted into the hand of the patient.
Even with the development of several different types of appendage catheter and IV securing means, medical science has not widely accepted these but still almost invariably uses tape to secure the IV in place, hopefully adequately enough to prevent unintentional removal thereof.
When skin of the patient is wet from blood or other liquids, tape is useless as an IV securing means. This is a particular problem in disaster or emergency situations. Also if swelling occurs, the securing tape can become very uncomfortable or can even pull loose as a result thereof.
Additionally taping causes a problem in pulling the skin of the patient when it is removed thus causing pain and inconvenience. If the IVs are inserted and removed several times, the skin of the patient can become irritated, even to the point of a rash developing causing the IV to have to be placed in another location.